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Killswitch Engage
1998 Following the break-up of his band, Overcast, bassist Mike D'Antonio jammed with Aftershock guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz. As both bands had disbanded, Dutkiewicz recruited guitarist Joel Stroetzel from Aftershock, and Jesse Leach of Nothing Stays Gold as vocalist. The band's name originated from the break-up of Overcast and Aftershock, using aspects that pushed and elevated the band and putting the combination into a new category. D'Antonio commented "basically shutting everything down that we once knew and starting over. Killswitch, which is like turning everything off. Like if someone’s hand gets caught in something in a metal working shop the foreman will press one button that will turn off the machines. A killswitch. Then the engage is just turning it back on or something like that". The band got their name from an episode of the television series The X Files entitled Kill Switch, written by William Gibson. Gibson had actually named this episode for industrial band Kill Switch...Klick after a chance meeting on a book tour. The two bands are otherwise unrelated. 1999 2000 While playing shows and selling demos, Mike D was doing Ferret music ads and called up Carl from Ferret and told him about Killswitch his current project then signed the deal. The band released its self-titled debut album, and although initially the album was not a financial success and didn't enter any charts, it garnered the interest of Ferret Music founder Carl Severson. Severson, who worked at Roadrunner Records at the time, handed Killswitch Engage to several Roadrunner representatives. An A&R of the company, Mike Gitter, contacted D'Antonio and attended several of the band's shows, and his interest led him to offer the band a recording contract with Roadrunner. Declining offers from several smaller labels, the band accepted the Roadrunner deal as they thought the company had the resources to promote and distribute Killswitch Engage releases. 2001 NOV '''Killswitch Engage began writing new material for their second album. With a larger recording budget, the band entered Zing Studios in Westfield, Massachusetts in November, and was able to spend more time "getting things right". Mixed in January at Backstage Studios by producer Andy Sneap, the album was titled ''Alive or Just Breathing ''for lyrics in the song "Just Barely Breathing". A music video for the single "My Last Serenade" increased the band's exposure, and the album peaked at number 37 on the Top Heatseekers chart. After the album's release, which was written and recorded for two guitarists, the band decided to expand and become a fivesome when they recruited Pete Courtese, Dutkiewicz moved to guitar to replace him later on, and former Aftershock drummer Tom Gomes filled in the vacant drummer position. Kevin Boyce of CMJ New Music Report described the record as "more addictive than crack cocaine that's been smothered in caffeine and nicotine and drenched with chocolate", and Jason D. Taylor of Allmusic said the release is "a pure metal album that seemingly has ignored any fashionable trend and instead relies solely on skill and expertise to sculpt some of meatiest heavy metal since the glory days of Metallica and Slayer". 2002 After Leach got married on April 20, 2002 and began touring again he started to become depressed. This started to affect his screaming as he would put too much emotion into the screaming and not enough technique. At his worst Leach would do a show then head back to the bus and go to sleep. Leach left the band a few days before the band was meant to play a show and sent the band members an e-mail telling them he had quit. D'Antonio thought that "after three years of hanging out with the dude, and considering him a brother, to just get an email was a little bit harsh." The band immediately started to search for a replacement vocalist and found Howard Jones of Blood Has Been Shed. Jones disliked the band's sound when he first heard it. He commented "I was like, ‘Meh.’ I come from hardcore and dirtier metal, and Killswitch sounded so clean. But the more I listened to it, I realized there’s some really good songs here". After hearing about Leach's vocal problems, Jones contacted the band and was accepted as the replacement. Without listening to the entire self-titled album or Alive or Just Breathing, Jones had to memorize seven songs for his debut at the Hellfest. The new lineup played on the Road Rage tour in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands with 36 Crazyfists and Five Pointe O. 2003 Touring continued through the New Year's Day The first song to feature Jones, "When Darkness Falls", appeared on the soundtrack of the horror film Freddy vs. Jason. Following the Ozzfest, drummer Gomes left the band because he wished to spend more time with his wife, to pursue his band Something of a Silhouette, and because he was tired of touring. He was replaced by Justin Foley of Blood Has Been Shed and Red Tide, and Foley's first tour with the band was the MTV2 Headbangers Ball 2004 '''MAY 11 The album The End of Heartache ''is released, and peaked at number 21 on the Billboard 200 with 38,000 sales in its first week, and it also peaked at number 39 on the Australian album chart following an Australian tour with Anthrax.The album went on to sell more than 500,000 copies in the U.S and was certified gold on December 7, 2007. The album received mostly positive reviews In late 2004, the band supported Slayer on its U.S. Jagermusic dates, and headlined shows with From Autumn to Ashes, Eighteen Visions, and 36 Crazyfists. "The End of Heartache" became the main single for the movie Resident Evil: Apocalypse, and in 2005 the song was nominated in the Best Metal Performance category for the 47th annual Grammy Awards. The award was given to Motörhead for "Whiplash". In late 2004, ''The End of Heartache ''was re-released as a special edition album, with a second disc featuring various live performances, a Japanese bonus track, and a re-recorded version of "Irreversal". 2005 During the summer, the band returned for Ozzfest '''NOV '1 Alive or Just Breathing ''was re-released as part of Roadrunner Records' 25th anniversary. 22 The live DVD ''(Set This) World Ablaze ''was released, which contained a live concert at the Palladium in Worcester, Massachusetts, an hour-long documentary, and all the band's music videos. The DVD went gold in the U.S. on April 8, 2006 for 500,000 sales. 2006 '''MAY' 23 The song "This Fire Burns" was released on the WWE Wreckless Intent album. The track was intended to be the new theme song for WWE superstar Randy Orton; however, it was scrapped and later became the theme song for the WWE Judgment Day 2006 pay-per-view. "This Fire Burns" is currently used as the entrance theme for WWE SmackDown superstar, CM Punk and was later re-released as "This Fire" on the As Daylight Dies Special Edition. AUG 'Killswitch Engage played the Reading and Leeds Festivals, having already played Australian dates without Dutkiewicz, who was suffering from back problems and needed corrective surgery. '''NOV '21 Recorded in three months, As Daylight Dies was released and peaked at number 32 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart with 60,000 sales in its first week. "As Daylight Dies" proved to be one of their biggest albums yet. It also entered the Australia album chart at number 29. Mixed by Dutkiewicz, the album received mostly positive reviews. As of November 27, 2007, As Daylight Dies has sold more than 300,000 units in the United States.35 The album's first single, "My Curse", peaked at number 21 on the Hot Mainstream Rock chart, and is featured in the video games Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock and Burnout Paradise and is available as downloadable content for Rock Band. "The Arms of Sorrow" peaked at number 31 on the same chart. The band's cover of Dio's "Holy Diver", originally recorded for a Kerrang! compilation album titled High Voltage, peaked at number 12 on the Mainstream Rock charts. 2007 Early in 2007, the band had to cancel three of its European tour dates with The Haunted due to Dutkiewicz's back problems. He required emergency back surgery and was replaced on the tour by Soilwork guitarist Peter Wichers. Killswitch Engage headlined the No Fear Tour in early 2007 with DragonForce, Chimaira, and He Is Legend. Due to Dutkiewicz's back problems, he was replaced by Damageplan and The Mercy Clinic frontman Patrick Lachman, who was formerly the guitarist for Diesel Machine and Halford. Dutkiewicz recovered and was able to finish No Fear tour, and the band began filming its video for As Daylight Dies's second single, "The Arms of Sorrow". Killswitch Engage played the Download Festival with Iron Maiden, Evanescence, Lamb of God, Linkin Park, Slayer, and Marilyn Manson. The band also toured at Bamboozle 2007 and Warped Tour. '''AUG 6 Dutkiewicz was forced to leave Warped Tour so he could fully recover from his back surgery and continue daily physical therapy. He was replaced by Killswitch's guitar technician Josh Mihlek for select songs, until his return on August 14, 2007. 14 Dutkiewicz returned to the band after recovering from surgery. NOV 28' - DEC '17 Killswitch Engage are on a U.S. tour with co-headlining band Lamb of God, and supporting acts DevilDriver and Soilwork. 2008 FEB '''Killswitch Engage took part in the Soundwave Festival in Australia during February and March, headlining the Metal Stage and playing with bands such as As I Lay Dying, Shadows Fall and Bleeding Through. The band toured until May 2008 '''MAY 29 End of the Canadian tour for As Daylight Dies in Vancouver, BC. Killswitch Engage also played at the 2008 Wacken Open Air Festival in Germany, which is the biggest heavy metal festival in the world. They played with bands such as Iron Maiden, Children Of Bodom, Carcass, At The Gates, Exodus, Kreator, Opeth, Unearth and As I Lay Dying. The band toured with Disturbed as part of the Music as a Weapon tour, and will play in the Rockstar "Mayhem Festival" with Slayer, Marilyn Manson, and Bullet for My Valentine. OCT '''The band entered the studio to start recording their next album with Dutkiewicz and Brendan O'Brien co-producing it (a first for the band) 2009 '''FEB '''Bassist Mike D'Antonio confirmed in an interview with Metal Hammer that "drums were finished", and that he had “finished up the last few bass fixes". He also stated that Howard Jones is in Atlanta finishing vocals, and that "it shouldn’t be too much longer now.” '''APR 14 The band announced the name of their album as Killswitch Engage, the second time the band has self-titled the name of their album. JUNE 6 Killswitch Engage revealed their new video, "Starting Over", on MTV's Headbangers Ball. 9 The single "Starting Over" became available on iTunes and also made the album available for pre-order. The band played the Download Festival with bands such as Faith No More, Limp Bizkit, Slipknot, Def Leppard and Korn 22 The new album became available to stream over MySpace Music. JUNE 30 The album is released and debuted at #7 on the Billboard 200, marking the band's highest chart position. The band is booked for the Taste of Chaos Tour in Europe.